President Donald Trump warned on Friday that he was considering various measures to tackle Venezuela "including a possible military option if necessary." But Latin American nations are united against US military deployment there.

The UN decried Tuesday "widespread and systematic use of excessive force" against demonstrators in Venezuela, saying security forces and pro-government groups were responsible for at least 73 protester deaths.

Deadly violence erupted around a controversial vote held in Venezuela on Sunday, with a candidate to the assembly being elected shot dead in his home and troops firing weapons to clear protesters in Caracas.

Ahead of next Sunday's election for a 500-plus member assembly to rewrite the constitution and give the president more power, the opposition also plans a general strike — the second in weeks — on Wednesday and Thursday and a big protest march on Friday.

Over a third of Venezuelan voters turned out Sunday in an unofficial referendum — and nearly all voted "No" to President Nicolás Maduro's plans to rewrite the constitution. Now the opposition is calling a nationwide strike.

The call to polls — described as a "plebiscite" by the opposition, but "illegal" by the government — is over President Nicolas Maduro's intention to have a citizens' body elected to redraft the country's basic law.

Four grenades were hurled at the high court from a helicopter and bullets were fired at the Interior Ministry on Tuesday, leader Nicolas Maduro said, in a potentially dramatic escalation of the violence gripping the oil-rich South American country.

Deadly violence erupted around a controversial vote held in Venezuela on Sunday, with a candidate to the assembly being elected shot dead in his home and troops firing weapons to clear protesters in Caracas.

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03/19/2014 - 7:15am

One of the drivers behind the Venezuelan street protests is a lack of basic consumer goods, from toilet paper to food. Now the government thinks it has a partial answer — a sort of supermarket loyalty card that it hopes will cut down on hoarding and speculation. But some critics say the idea is just creepy.

Venezuela alleges the US ambassador to Colombia plotted to destabilize and "annihilate" President Nicolas Maduro, just the latest claim in an escalating war of words between the two nations. The claim came shortly before the US House approved a measure calling for sanctions on officials in the Venezuelan government over human rights abuses.

Some Republicans are so incensed about President Barack Obama's executive action on immigration that they're calling it illegal. It's easy to find similar disagreement over the use of presidential powers in other political systems around the world.

The UN decried Tuesday "widespread and systematic use of excessive force" against demonstrators in Venezuela, saying security forces and pro-government groups were responsible for at least 73 protester deaths.

Former political prisoner Francisco Marquez says he witnessed beatings and torture during his four months in Venezuelan prison. He's now in the US trying to draw attention to the human rights crisis back home.